Marina Menendez paints her 11- to 13-foot snake, connecting its three pieces to make it come to life.
It may not be real, but for Menendez, it’s enough for the children who are in awe of the creation and will come to the 30th anniversary of the Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo’s annual trick-or-treating event.
Visitors walked through Boo at the Zoo, a transformed zoo full of student-created trick-or-treating zones, from 3 to 7 p.m. Wednesday. While this is the event’s 30th year, it is just Menendez’s second.
“The fact that I’m able to be here and it be my last semester, my last Boo at the Zoo as a student, I think it’s a little bittersweet,” Menendez said. “It’s an honor to be a part of it.”
Menendez is a fifth-semester Santa Fe College student participating in this year’s program. She is just one of eight student groups helping to decorate the zoo for the expected 5,000 to 6,000 visitors, according to Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo director Jonathan Miot, who has been working at the zoo for 18 years. Miot said he has seen a constant attendance of over 5,000 every year.
Miot said he has seen many fun zones students have created in his years with the zoo. While themes change every year, one constant is the effort students put into their characters, something Miot and his team emphasizes.
He said one year, a group created a Scooby Doo world in which two students dressed as Scooby Doo and Shaggy and ate food all night, just like the cartoon characters. Another year, one group designed a Willy Wonka zone. Miot said their Augustus Gloop, the child obsessed with eating, ate an entire chocolate cake throughout the night. Miot said he also loves seeing what the kids will be dressed as.
“There will be students who are dressed up as a certain character, and then guests will come by … dressed as the same character, and they just light up and are so excited to see each other,” Miot said.
This year, Menendez and her group created a “The Nightmare Before Christmas” zone. They created a photo area with Jack and Sally and repurposed an old Mario Kart as the mayor’s car, along with other decorations. She said her proudest achievement was creating a giant snake for her zone.
“It’s really nice when you get to see a kid’s face light up to something that you created yourself,” Menendez said. “I think more than any other age group, specifically kids will see what you’ve created and just be in awe by it.”
The trick-or-treating event is just one part of the college’s larger Zoo Animal Technology Program that started in 1970. Miot said the program began when their two founders wanted to create a hands-on training program for zookeepers. When they interviewed zoo directors and curators, they found there wasn’t a program like this, so they went on to create their own. Four years after it started, the zoo moved to its permanent location at Santa Fe College. Since Boo at the Zoo was formed, it has grown to involve community groups and has welcomed over 140,000 guests.
“The impact has grown, and the more people that get involved, the more impact there is, and that’s because it becomes real when you come here and see everything that happens,” Miot said. “When you can help contribute to that magic, it becomes real, and people start to understand what we as a community do.”
Miot said the impact goes beyond just providing a safe trick-or-treating area. The event starts with a special entry fee. Miot said that access to food becomes difficult for students and other area residents around the holiday season.
That’s why all the zoo asks at the door is a canned food item in place of an entrance fee. Miot said the donations were designed to welcome the community and give back to it. Since the program’s start, Miot said it has collected over 141,000 food items that have gone to a variety of food pantries in the area, as well as the Saints Food Share at Santa Fe College.
“Food insecurity is a pretty large issue, and so this directly helps support the students here at the college,” Miot said.
Students also see the benefit from the wider Zoo Animal Technology Program. The program gives Santa Fe College students on-the-job training to prepare them to be the next generation of animal care specialists, according to Miot. He said learning how to care for animals and running a zoo is only one part of preparing for animal handling. Zoos will often have seasonal events, like Boo at the Zoo, they require their workers to participate in.
Menendez said she wants to work with great apes in her professional career, and working with this program has taught her lessons of what she should expect.
“Learning to work on a team, going through something very arduous and being able to communicate with people … is something that could really, really help,” Menendez said.
The Zoo Animal Technology Program has an 85% placement rate and sets up many students in zoos right after graduation, Miot said. He said he has a positive image for the program in 30 years and hopes it continues to grow.
“I just hope that people continue to have a good time, enjoy themselves [and] understand … that their donation does make a difference,” Miot said. “One small act by every person here makes a huge difference for the food banks. And then the program, we hope to continue to grow and innovate.”